June Monthly Mosaic: Families and the War on Drugs

In mainstream conversations about families and drugs, parents are tasked with protecting their children from the evils of drug abuse. However, this narrative drastically oversimplifies the many ways in which families experience drugs and drug use, glossing over the serious problems caused by drug war policies themselves.
Even otherwise positive drug policy reforms frequently overlook parents and families, perpetuating the harms done by the War on Drugs.
This issue of the Monthly Mosaic will touch on a few of the ways families are impacted by drug policy.

“San Diego police officers stormed past medical cannabis patient Micah Wojnowski’s organic vegetable farm in Golden Hill and into the home he shared with his teenage son and a couple of roommates. The police entered the urban home with guns drawn on a tip from a confidential informant. They did not find what they were looking for but decided not to accept defeat. Instead they searched Micah’s house and garage, and set a stage to paint Micah as a child abuser because he is a medical cannabis patient, an industry expert and a parent.”

Although Micah was thankfully found not guilty, his experience is unfortunately not unique.

Shona Banda, author of the 2010 book Live Free or Die, which makes the case for medical marijuana, found out first hand how speaking out against drug laws can endanger a family. Shona, who has developed her own cannabis oil extraction method to treat her Crohn’s disease, lives in Kansas, which has some of the more backwards cannabis laws in the nation.

“It started in March 2015 when Shona’s 11-year-old son was attending a ‘drug education program’ [at school]…After making a comment relating to Shona’s medical cannabis use for Crohn’s disease, school officials called The Department of Children and Families and the Garden City police. Authorities proceeded to interview Shona’s son without her permission. Using this information, which was possibly gained illegally, they raided Shona’s home while she was not there and found cannabis. In June, Shona was charged with various drug and child endangerment crimes, whereupon she turned herself into authorities. Even more devastatingly, Shona’s son was taken away by the state when they opened a Child in Need of Care (CINC) case.”

Shona and Micah represent just a few of many parents who have faced the risk of being labeled child abusers and losing custody of their kids for using cannabis for medical purposes.

Cannabis legislation and ballot initiatives offer weak parent-protective provisions, or none at all, which allows CPS to continue to take action against parents who use cannabis legally. However, organizations like the Family Law and Cannabis Alliance are fighting back with model language for ballot initiatives and other legislation that liberalize cannabis laws while providing protection for families.

“[Tamara Loertscher] was…brought to court and twice refused lawyers (even though her fetus was given one), and then sent to jail for 17 days, where she was placed in solitary confinement, denied prenatal care even as she began cramping, and not given her thyroid medication for two days…Loertscher refused to submit to in-patient treatment because, she said, she was not an addict and had stopped using drugs. She was then jailed for contempt of court. She was released from jail after agreeing to submit to regular tests, which…have repeatedly shown that she is clean. Nonetheless, the state of Wisconsin then informed her that it considered her a child abuser, which will prevent Loertscher from ever working again in her profession, as a certified nurse’s aide….It could even prevent the soon-to-be mom from one day volunteering at her son’s school.”

“The same failed tactics used to fight drugs continue to be used to retain control over women’s reproduction. Drug laws are increasingly being implemented on the state level as a roundabout method to limit women’s bodily autonomy and carry out anti-choice agendas.”

“The electronic-music venues where the drug abounds rarely offer amenities like free water or cool-down rooms that could help keep partygoers from overheating. ‘What the hell, why are these places not protecting their patrons?’ Goldsmith remembers thinking. She found the answer in a 2003 law introduced by then-Sen. Joe Biden that bars individuals and businesses from ‘knowingly opening, maintaining, managing, controlling, renting, leasing, making available for use, or profiting from any place’ where drugs are distributed or used. Violators can be slapped with fines of up to $250,000 and prison sentences of up to 20 years.”

Take Action.

Start a conversation with your own family about the war on drugs. Tell your Outreach Director about the outcomes.

Have a discussion with your chapter about ways in which families can be hurt by various drug policy reform measures. Take a look at model language and see how laws in your area compare. What can you and your chapter do to make sure families aren’t being discriminated against?

The DARE committee strives to promote inclusivity within the SSDP network, and facilitate collaboration and engagement with presently underrepresented perspectives, individuals, and movements. In order to ensure that the Monthly Mosaic more intentionally and meaningfully reflects these values, the DARE committee is pleased to invite members of our student and alumni network to submit ideas for upcoming issues.